On the second day of the 156th Session of the General Assembly of the Polish Academy of Sciences, held on 26 June 2026, Prof. Tilman Pfau of the University of Stuttgart was elected a Foreign Member of PAA in Division III: Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry and Earth Sciences. This year's election process saw 86 candidates put forward, from which the divisions of PAS ultimately selected 66 new foreign members - one of the highest honours the Polish Academy of Sciences bestows on researchers from abroad.

Prof. Pfau's candidacy was put forward by the Scientific Council of the Centre for Theoretical Physics of the Polish Academy of Sciences (CTP PAS) - making this honour particularly significant for our institute.

Prof. Tilman Pfau

Scientific profile

Prof. Tilman Pfau is the founding director of the 5th Institute of Physics at the University of Stuttgart and executive director of the Carl Zeiss Foundation Centre for Quantum Photonics. He is one of the leading experimental physicists of our time, and his research on Rydberg atoms has been instrumental in the development of quantum simulators and quantum computers. His pioneering work has made a lasting contribution to atomic, molecular and optical physics, significantly advancing knowledge in these fields. Among his most notable achievements are the discovery of quantum droplets and so-called "trilobite" molecules, as well as the first observation of the supersolid state of matter. His scientific achievements have been recognised with, among others, the Herbert P. Broida Prize of the American Physical Society and ERC Advanced Grants from the European Research Council. In electing him, the Academy recognised not only his research achievements but also his long-standing commitment to international collaboration and to physics education and science outreach.

Significance for CFT PAN

Prof. Pfau's election as a Foreign Member of PAS confirms his close, long-standing ties with the Centre for Theoretical Physics of the Polish Academy of Sciences. He currently serves as Vice Chairman of the International Scientific Advisory Board of the Centre for Quantum-Enabled Computing (C4QEC), based at CTP PAS, and is a partner in the European project Teaming for Excellence ("Quantum Research and Applied Knowledge"), which aims to develop CTP PAS into a Centre of Excellence.

This election also confirms the long-standing, close scientific ties between the University of Stuttgart and CTP PAS. An earlier, visible symbol of this connection was the honorary doctorate awarded in 2014 by the University of Stuttgart to the renowned Polish theoretical physicist Prof. Kazimierz Rzążewski, a member of PAS, who has shaped atomic and quantum physics for decades and played a decisive role in fostering scientific exchange between Poland and Germany.